Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. He was once described by The Church Times as a "blood-crazed ferret". He is on Twitter as HolySmoke. His latest book is The Fix: How addiction is taking over your world. He also writes about classical music for The Spectator.

If Dean Jeffrey John becomes a bishop, the floodgates will open

It was only a matter of time. Dean Jeffrey John is in the running to become Bishop of Bangor and therefore Britain's first openly gay bishop. And there is not a damned thing that the Archbishop of Canterbury can do to stop it happening because (a) the Church in Wales is disestablished and (b) Dean John, though in a civil partnership, is celibate.

You asked for this, Rowan. When you first became Archbishop, you encouraged your old friend to put himself forward as Bishop of Reading and then dropped him in the most humiliating manner possible when evangelicals made a fuss.

This is just a guess, but I reckon that the Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, remembers the great betrayal of 2003 and is perfectly happy to cause +Cantuar maximum embarrassment. If Dean John was in a sexually active relationship, then Morgan would be treading on thin ice. But he is celibate, and in addition ticks just the right boxes – "affirming Catholic", noted theologian, Welsh speaker. (Remind you of anyone?)

Anyway, if Britain does acquire a Bishop Jeffrey John, then the attempts by Rowan's spin doctors to present Lambeth '08 as a healing experience will soon look even sillier and more desperate than they do already.

You try explaining to a Ugandan evangelical that Rowan's convoluted "covenant" is worth supporting once Britain has an Anglican bishop in a legal partnership with another gay priest.

Don't forget: as the Telegraph revealed in an important story last month, The Archbishop of Canterbury privately believes that active – not just celibate – gay relationships are comparable to marriage in the eyes of God. How does he square that belief with his official statements? I suspect that Archbishop Morgan, for one, doesn't really care. Jeffrey John's name will go forward, and if it is accepted then the floodgates will open.